The computer scanner or computer scanner is the most popular. This peripheral uses light to convert images (a document, a photograph, etc.) into a digital file. Once this file is obtained, it can be edited and modified on the computer .

What is  computer scanner and History

The first scanner of this type was developed in 1984 . It only generated low resolution black and white images. Over the years, the quality of the result improved a lot. Today, the scanner is often integrated into the printer , resulting in what is known as a multifunction printer .

Scanning an image is a process that presents a relatively high degree of complexity if we want to obtain the best results, but that can be considerably simplified if we take advantage of the assistance that specialized programs offer us. For a user without technical knowledge about the image, just press a button and in a few seconds the capture will be finished, generating a file in the default folder by program. Others, however, must pay attention to various parameters.

Features: Resolution and depth

One of the most important properties of a scanner is the resolution it is capable of capturing, which is measured in dots per inch (this unit of measurement is known as dpi ). This value is of utmost importance for people who want to print their scanned documents and photos, and therefore must match the capabilities of the printer so that the selected quality can be used.

On the other hand is the color depth (also known as bpp or bits per pixel ). It is a concept that refers to the number of bits that are needed to represent the color of each pixel. The greater the color depth, the more colors the scanner can capture (on monitors, this is reflected in the number of colors it can reproduce).

For document capture, optical character recognition is very useful , a process that the computer must perform on the scanned image to identify alphanumeric characters and convert the file to a text document. This saves the user the need to enter it by hand.

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The phone scanner and barcode reader

The popularity of the scanner as an image capture device has traversed a very unique path, with a rapid rise to the peak and a fall to an unexpected rival: the mobile phone. Although a phone camera cannot offer the same precision when scanning a document, most people prefer it to a traditional scanner as it takes up less space, they always have it with them and thus eliminate the need to buy. and maintain another appliance.

A barcode scanner , on the other hand, is a machine that can “read” a barcode (a series of lines of different thickness and with different spacing that contain information). The scanner records the code in question and sends it as an electrical signal to a decoder that displays the data.

Its use in medicine and safety

In medicine , on the other hand, there are different kinds of scanners. Appealing to X-rays, MRIs, ultrasounds or ionizing radiation, these devices offer images of the inside of the body (organs, bones, etc.). Scanning studies are very important for the diagnosis and treatment of many health conditions.

A body scanner , finally, is a device security that allows you to review a person without establishing physical contact. Through high-frequency radio waves, the scanner can show the objects that the individual is wearing under clothing.